


'cause i'm your home

by gothamized



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, but idk that much abt witches so plz bear thru any inaccuracies, side noren and markhyuck, wasn't supposed 2 be in lapslock but then i accidentally wrote over half the fic in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 16:11:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17852879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gothamized/pseuds/gothamized
Summary: the last thing jisung expected to see after being awoken by a large crash in the middle of the night was a boy with twigs in his hair and scratches all over his cheeks standing in the corner of his room. a burglar would have been less surprising. but here he was, sitting up right in his bed, staring straight at the wide-eyed boy who stood in the pile of books he somehow knocked over.





	'cause i'm your home

**Author's Note:**

> here's the playlist i listened to while writing this! idk if it adds to the mood or not but: https://open.spotify.com/user/p8g53dwpfqbnvlnw607oy0s2j/playlist/30kvTru0fFYgUx2pHaRElx?si=6tPnX4HcR5OuxLfWge7Gsw

the last thing jisung expected to see after being awoken by a large crash in the middle of the night was a boy with twigs in his hair and scratches all over his cheeks standing in the corner of his room. a burglar would have been less surprising. but here he was, sitting up right in his bed, staring straight at the wide-eyed boy who stood in the pile of books he somehow knocked over. jisung wasn’t sure how to react to something like this, as this was the most  _ unusual _ situation he’d even been in in his entire life, so he just mustered up a simple “hello?”.

the mysterious boy played with his hands nervously, and jisung swore he saw sparks of light travel between his fingers. he stepped forward into the stream of moonlight pooling in through the blinds of his window. jisung could see more of him now. he wore an olive oversized sweater that was tucked into his black jeans- dirty black jeans, jisung noted, there were little patches of grass hanging off parts of it. around his neck were a few necklaces, each presenting an array of colorful crystals and charms. some of crystals appeared to be glowing, but jisung assumed it was just the light reflecting off of it. 

“hi. um, don’t be scared of me please, i’m not trying to rob you or anything!” the boy spoke up. he placed his hands out in front of him defensively.

“then… why are you in my house? at three in the morning?” jisung asked. he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t just seeing things, but the boy was still there when he looked at the room again. 

the boy sighed, unable to come up with a reason,“uh- i”

before he could explain himself, he disappeared in a cloud of black and golden dust and jisung was left alone in his room, convinced this was all just some weird dream. 

 

jisung was unable to fall back asleep until half an hour before his alarm went off, which explained why he was in a daze for the first half of the day. he barely remembered getting into mark’s car and going to school, and only when jeno threw a tater tot at him during lunch did he really wake up.

“dude,” the black-haired boy asked, “are you okay?”

jisung nodded- his head felt heavy as he did-, “i just didn’t sleep last night… really weird dream.”

jeno laughed, “about what?”

“this random guy was in my room… he had all this jewelry on and he had like… twigs in his hair and shit,” jisung responded while stuffing his mouth with a handful of mark’s french fries. the eldest boy groaned, but allowed him to continue to eat it. 

“that is weird, dude,” jeno said. jisung agreed. usually his dreams were based off of something (or someone) he already knew. what had caused his subconscious to create this mysterious (and cute) boy? despite his confusion, jisung was curious and hoped he would see him again that night.

 

jisung’s hopes came true, as around three in the morning the same boy was in his room, looking just as confused as last night and with an equal amount of scratches on his face. this time, although, he wasn’t alone. a black cat stood beside him, cleaning its paws. 

“not here to rob you, again i promise!” he said as soon as jisung woke up.

“what’s with the cat?” jisung asked. the cat’s ears perked up at his mentioning, and it tilted its head and stared at him. jisung, unnerved by its empty yellow eyes, looked away.

“oh… she’s my familiar,” the boy responded. jisung recognized that word from watching a few movies.

“a familiar?” he asked, “so you’re like… a wizard?”

the boy smiled, “a witch… yeah. that’s the reason i’m here. i’ve been trying to master teleportation but it hasn’t exactly worked out, and now i can’t control it. i don’t know why i keep coming here though... i’m chenle, by the way.”

chenle stepped forward with his hand outstretched. the assortment of bracelets that hung off his arm jingled as he moved. jisung shook his hand and mumbled an introduction, “i’m jisung.”

a drop of blood from one of his cuts suddenly raced down chenle’s cheek, making jisung gasp. 

“ah!” he exclaimed, “how did you get so banged up?” 

jisung got up out of his bed and grabbed chenle’s forearm, dragging him into the bathroom that stemmed off his bedroom. he rummaged through the medicine cabinet for bandages and cotton balls as chenle, now perched on the counter, explained himself more. 

“when i’m teleporting, sometimes i get dropped off in bushes and trees. it hurts. but that’s not the worst one, a few nights ago i appeared in the middle of a highway.”

jisung wet a cotton ball with hydrogen peroxide and dabbed at the scratches that littered chenle’s cheeks. he wasn’t nervous at the proximity of their faces like he usually would be. he assumed this was all just a dream, after all, and this boy was cute. if his dream was going to give him a boy that looked like this, he was going to take every opportunity to be close to him, dammit. he applied a few band-aids to his wounds and stepped away. 

“thanks,” chenle said. he hopped off the counter and was about to exit the bathroom with jisung before he noticed something and gasped. he scurried over to the dead plant on the window sill and sighed. holding its shriveled leaves between his fingers, he said, “this is disappointing.”

chenle muttered something not in their language under his breath, and the plant suddenly sprung back to life. its brown leaves turned green, and golden petals bloomed out of the previously dead flowers. jisung must’ve voiced his amazement without realizing, because chenle looked at him with pink cheeks and giggled. 

his black cat meowed. chenle understood whatever it had communicated to him, and his smile faded, “it’s already 4am? i should get going, since my body hasn’t already teleported itself.”

jisung nodded, attempting to hide his disappointment that their time was over. chenle thanked him once more for fixing him up, said his goodbyes, and disappeared again in a cloud of black and golden dust. 

jisung crawled back into his bed, and he swore the way his heart raced felt all too real. 

 

that morning, jisung realized that feeling  _ was _ real. after his alarm clock woke him up at six o’clock, he dragged himself into the bathroom to brush his teeth. it was that moment that he realized the dead plant he looked at every morning- the plant that he reminded himself to water every morning but always forgot- was alive and  _ glowing.  _ jisung’s toothbrush dropped to the floor when he noticed. 

chenle was real. the past few nights had actually happened.

 

maybe jisung did set an alarm for 3am that night, just so he’d be awake for chenle, but he would never admit it. chenle never apparated into his room that night though, instead there was a knock on his window at 3am. 

jisung crawled out of bed and opened the window, revealing the magical boy perched on his roof. his fingers dug into the slate and he was sat in an awkward position. the panic on his face faded away as jisung pulled the window up. 

“i swear to god, my subconscious is trying to kill me. i was asleep and BOOM! i appeared on your  _ roof _ ,” he mumbled as he climbed in, his cat following. he had more twigs and flowers in his hair, and even more cuts on his arms and face. some of the bandages jisung had applied the previous night were missing. 

“you’re real,” jisung said slowly. chenle furrowed his brows at him and nodded, “of course i am.”

“i thought this was a dream. you’re real.  _ witches are real _ ,” jisung said. 

“oh… you thought this was all your imagination? i was wondering why you were so calm at first,” chenle responded. he looked worriedly at jisung, “are you freaked out now? i can leave, if you want-”

“no- no. stay, it’s okay,” jisung grabbed chenle’s sleeve before he could climb back out the window. he didn’t know what prompted him to do this. most people would be afraid of a witch who appeared in their room every night at the devil’s hour, but jisung wasn’t most people. chenle intrigued him. and it wasn’t just his powers that interested him, there was something else. something jisung wasn’t ready to admit to himself. 

chenle nodded. he sat down on the fluffy carpet. his cat joined him, snuggling next to his folded legs. jisung joined them, resting his back on the side of his mattress. 

“so, tell me about… witches and everything,” he said. chenle smiled at his request, “i mean, most of the stuff you see in the movies and stuff is true. except we don’t wear those weird pointy hats and ride brooms everywhere.”

“do you like… live around here?” jisung asked. he wondered if witches like chenle lived in his town. maybe his neighbor was a witch too. the heavy metal music that poured out of johnny’s windows late at night seemed demonic, now that he thought of it. 

“you know the forest across town?” chenle asked. the younger boy nodded. he was familiar with that area- it was a party spot jeno  _ loved _ . it was also terrifying to be in when you were drunk and it was past midnight. jisung always felt like he was being watched. now, he realized, his suspicions might have been correct. 

“i live with a bunch of friends- witches too, of course- over there. we use some protection and invisibility spells on our house so humans can’t see it,” chenle explained. 

“cool…” jisung said.

as chenle spoke, he fumbled with the crystals dangling from his neck. he noticed jisung staring at them and explained, “these are my crystals. they help with healing spells and other things…” he paused, thinking, “what about you? tell me about your life.”

“me?” jisung asked. he was confused as to why someone with a life as interesting as chenle would be interested in his mundane one.

chenle nodded, “yeah. i never got the chance to go to high school, since sicheng pulled us out early to be homeschooled… what’s it like? what do you do?”

“high school is pretty similar to the movies i guess, with the cliques and everything. there’s a lot of homework and all of it is horrible. i play varsity basketball, that’s about as interesting as it gets for me.”

chenle’s eyes lit up at the mention of the sport, “basketball? i love watching that on tv! i love the golden state warriors.”

“me too! you know, maybe you could come and watch one of my games, experience a little bit of high school life… some time,” jisung said. chenle smiled at the invitation.

“i’d love to. hopefully sicheng will let me,” he responded. chenle’s cat meowed and interrupted their conversation. the cat’s cry somehow alerted him of the time again. he sprung off the floor, “i have to get back before one of the guys wakes up. i’ll probably see you tomorrow, if i get dropped off here again.” 

“okay… goodbye,” jisung replied. he remained sat on the rug after chenle said goodnight and vanished into the darkness of the room. as he stared out at the night sky with a witch on his mind, his eyes soon became heavy and finally closed. 

 

jisung had a terrible headache the entire next day. he knew it was caused by the enormous amount of stress he was under at the moment. school was overwhelming with finals approaching, projects due, and everything else. of course, the headache didn’t subside and jisung was reaching delirium by the time chenle arrived. the witch and his cat appeared on jisung’s bed this time, plopping right in front of the boy who held his forehead in pain.

“hey!- oh no, what’s wrong?” chenle asked worriedly, immediately noticing his anguish. 

“my head is killing me and i can’t sleep because of it,” jisung murmured. eyes squinted, he peered up at chenle. tonight he wore a maroon, oversized turtleneck and it was unusually clean. there wasn't any debris in his hair or new scratches on his face either. with his aching migraine, though, jisung didn’t take any of this into account. 

the witch grinned in his direction, “well, aren’t you lucky i can help with that?”

“what?” jisung was too tired and too sore to even think. chenle shuffled closer to him and placed his hands on both of his temples. instantly the pain left jisung’s head, replaced instead with tranquility and fatigue. he sighed in relief.

“thanks,” he mumbled. the new feeling of exhaustion made his eyes droop, and he sunk back on to his pillow. 

he heard chenle sat goodnight, but there wasn’t a shift in weight on his bed until long after. 

 

“dude, why are you acting so weird?” jeno asked jisung at lunch.

for the first time in his life, jisung had woken up at 6am feeling  _ great _ . he was energized and ready to take on the day. he’d entered mark’s car with a “pep in his step”, the elder had noted. 

“you wouldn’t believe me if i told you,” jisung said.

“try me.”

“the guy i thought i was dreaming about is real, and he’s a witch. he helped take away my headache last night and now i feel great.”

jeno opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and instead only responded with: “okay. never mind.”

“told you.”

“did you start smoking again? at school?” mark asked next to them. 

jisung took a handful of his fries again, throwing a few at mark’s head and the rest into his own mouth. “shut up,” he mumbled. 

 

“how come you only come at night?” jisung asked chenle. it was three thirty  in the morning and the two were sat on jisung’s bed. chenle was showing jisung a trick he’d just learned that involved balls of fire bouncing off his fingers. the fire dissipated as chenle looked up. 

“nighttime is when i try to work on some of my powers, including the teleportation thing. but it seems every time i try to teleport now it brings me right here.”

“oh… sorry,” jisung said. maybe chenle didn’t enjoy this as much as he did. after all, jisung was just another boring teenager and chenle was a  _ witch _ . 

“what, no! i like coming here, and talking to you,” jisung blushed as chenle responded, “it’s also a nice change from what i’m used to.” 

“what do you mean?”

“i mean i live in a secluded house in the forest, hidden to the human eye, with a few other guys i’ve known my whole life. i love them but, it’s nice to be away from that sometimes- experience something different, meet someone new.”

“oh, i get that. sometimes i get really sick of this place and just want to run away to somewhere far from here,” jisung confessed. just like every other restless teen in his small town, he wanted to get out as soon as possible, but graduation couldn’t come fast enough. 

“well, you know, whenever i master this teleportation thing i can take you somewhere. where do you want to go?”

“the beach… i haven’t been to one in so long.” 

chenle nodded, grinning, “i can do that.”

 

the final day of the school week was too much for jisung. he had to take four tests (out of the five academic classes he had), all which he studied excessively for, and he still felt he did horribly on all of them. on top of it all, his basketball coach decided for today to be point-out-everything jisung’s-doing-wrong day and it only made him feel worse. he arrived home at 8pm and retreated to the darkness of his room to sulk. hours passed by and he continued to stare at the wall, miserable thoughts flowing through his mind. 

chenle arrived slightly early that night, but jisung didn’t notice. 

“jisungie! what’s wrong?” he asked immediately, climbing on to the bed. his heart didn’t flutter at the new nickname like it would have any other night. 

“just had a hard day,” jisung murmured. he finally took his eyes off the cream wall to look at chenle. he was wearing the same oversized olive sweater from the first night he’d appeared, except it was clean this time. his fingers peeked out from the sleeves and played with each other as he stared down at the younger boy. 

“do you want to talk about it?” the witch asked.

jisung sat up, “its just… i try and try and try… and i still fail and it’s starting to really wear me down. like in practice today, my coach kept calling me out for the smallest things. he always acts like i don’t care about the team or anything… but i’m the one who stays hours after practice just so  _ i _ can be as good as everyone else.”

chenle shifted closer to jisung, so their legs brushed against each other. he placed one hand on the younger’s knee, “i bet you’re amazing at basketball. but i know what you mean. sicheng does that to me too, but it’s only because he wants me to be the best witch i can be. sometimes you just have to ignore it and not take it personally.” 

jisung nodded and remained silent as a single tear traveled down his cheek. 

“chenle,” he asked, “can you do that thing where you take all the pain away again?” 

his eyebrows furrowed at jisung’s request. he gave him a pitying look as he responded, “i don’t know if it works on emotional pain…“. 

“just try?” jisung pleaded. he was craving the warm sensation he’d received from chenle’s spell the other night, anything to push away his overwhelming negative feelings. 

“okay.”

maybe it was just the feeling of chenle’s hands intertwined with his, but jisung instantly felt better. he sunk back into the bed. 

“well, goodnight,” chenle whispered. 

“can you stay here for a little longer? and just lay here?” jisung asked. 

“o-okay…” chenle laid on the pillow next to jisung. his cat, purring, snuggled in between both of them. 

 

chenle arrived early again the next night, around 10pm. jisung was just after getting home from basketball practice and crawling into bed when the blonde boy apparated next to him.

“ah!” he exclaimed, frightened by his sudden appearance. 

“hi,” chenle responded. jisung looked at his alarm clock to check the time. his eyebrows furrowed. he glanced back at the witch in confusion.

“i had an idea for tonight,” chenle explained, “i accidentally told jaemin about you and now he’s dying to meet you. so i was hoping i could bring you to my house tonight.”

“okay. but how? i can barely drive.” that, and, his mom would kill him if he took the car out this late at night. 

“we can teleport there. i’m getting really good at it, i promise.”

jisung doubted that, so he asked, “what if it doesn’t work? can it like kill me?”

“no!” chenle reassured, “the worst thing that can happen is i’ll teleport and you’ll just be left here.”

jisung shrugged. he had nothing else to do, and he  _ did _ want to know more about the older boy, so he agreed. “let's go then.” 

chenle smiled, “hold out your hands. i need to hold them so we both teleport.”

jisung followed his orders. his heartbeat spiked when chenle interlocked their fingers and pulled him towards him. he muttered a familiar spell under his breath. jisung’s surroundings quickly melted away and were replaced with a new setting. underneath him no longer was the fuzzy rug on his bedroom floor, instead now dead leaves and dirt. they were in the forest across town, standing on one of the nature trails that was popular for hikers. he recognized the giant spruce tree to the left of them as the tree couples often carved their names into. if he looked close enough he would probably find mark and jeno’s names with their exes. jisung, the youngest of the group, hadn’t had the opportunity to yet. 

“come on. it’s this way,” chenle said, tugging jisung in the opposite direction of the spruce. it was dark and wet in the forest due to the showers earlier that day. the leaves and moss that hung off the branches seemed even more green with raindrops and moonlight shining on top of them. jisung noticed unlit lanterns hanging off the branches as they continued down the trail. soon, they came to a clearing in the trees. in the center was an abandoned cottage. its windows were ominously dark and there appeared to be a hole in the roof. 

“it’s small, but it’s nice. sicheng must have started cooking, look at all the smoke coming out of the chimney,” chenle said. jisung looked at him crazily, as the chimney he saw was a pile of broken bricks atop of the desolate roof and there definitely wasn’t any smoke coming out of it. chenle’s eyes widened, “oh! i forgot to disenchant you.”

chenle murmured another spell and suddenly the landscape ahead of him was transforming. the derelict building morphed into a quaint white cottage. the chimney was fixed, smoke now flowing out of it. the door that previously had holes in it was now in perfect condition and bright red. beneath him, the dead leaves became blades of grass and colorful flowers. 

“woah,” jisung said, amazed. they walked to the door and entered the home. jisung was even more taken aback at the inside.

the front door opened to the living room of the house. there were couches, a television, a coffee table, bookshelves- what one would usually see in a typical human household. four people, transfixed on whatever television program was, had the back of their heads to the boys. this was completely normal to jisung. what made his jaw drop were the floating candles and other objects traveling across the room. the candles each hovered around their own area, lighting up one part of the room. along with the candles, books also traveled across the room. they seemed to be organizing themselves in the shelves that hung off the walls of the living room. 

jisung stared at the scene in front of him in amazement until chenle waved his hands in front of his face. he brought jisung further into the living room so they stood in sight of the people watching television. 

there were four boys, one considerably older than the rest, squished into one couch with a blanket draped across all their legs. a bowl of popcorn rested on one boy’s lap, pieces of popcorn were floating out of it and into their mouths. 

their eyes left the screen once they noticed chenle and jisung. one guy with honey hair instantly grinned at the sight of the human.

“everyone, this is jisung. jisung, this is jaemin, renjun, donghyuck, and sicheng,” chenle introduced them, pointing at each individual boy as he said his name. jaemin, the one who’d grinned at jisung, climbed off the couch and held his hand out. jisung shook it.

“so this is the human chenle’s been talking about!” he said. 

“you are  _ really _ tall,” said the tanned boy- donghyuck. he caught jisung’s eyes when he first saw him. his cheekbones glowed golden under the candle light and black flowers were entangled through the strands of his cherry red hair. he contrasted greatly from the two boys he was squeezed in between. renjun sat on the left. he wore an oversized white sweatshirt, the hood of it resting atop his hair, and round glasses that rested at the top of his nose. a small, white, cartoonish-looking animal rested atop of his thighs. jisung didn’t recognize what it was, he assumed it was the product of some spell like most of the other things in the room. on donghyuck’s right was the eldest boy chenle introduced as sicheng. he wore a more serious expression than the other boys. red and black eyeshadow decorated his eyelids, along with a small crescent moon drawn from eyeliner beneath his lower lash line. he smiled at jisung and his hardened expression was replaced with a soft one, allowing the human’s nerves to disappear. 

“nice to meet you,” sicheng said. he stood up off the couch to shake his hand.

“i’m going to make more tea. would you like some jisung? i have raspberry and passionflower,” he asked. jisung nodded and told him either was fine. the oldest boy drifted into another room.

after he sat down, his eyes continued to search the living room. he was intrigued by the fact they owned a television. for some reason, he had assumed someone- a witch especially- who lived in a secluded cottage in the middle of a forest wouldn’t be so connected to the modern world. he voiced this assumption and chenle looked at him funnily, “just because we’re witches doesn’t mean we can’t have satellite.”

sicheng reappeared with a tray of steaming cups of tea. the sweet smell of fruit and flowers filled the room as he placed the tray on the coffee table. each boy took their own cup and drank. they quickly started a conversation, involving jisung by asking him how he met chenle and more questions.

“he kind of just teleported in my room one night and i was weirded out. then he came the next night and he was all cut up from landing in a bush so i helped him clean up,” he explained.

jaemin cooed, “that’s so cute. if i saw chenle in my room in the middle of the night i would be terrified.” 

chenle glared at him, but his expression was so unintimidating jaemin laughed at it. he flicked his hand in his direction and suddenly jaemin grabbed his hand in pain. jisung caught sight of a small flame on his hand that went out quickly. sicheng shook his head, “no cursing each other! how many times do i have to say this? one day someone is going to end up stuck to the ceiling again and i’m NOT going to help.”

chenle apologized. there was fear written all over renjun’s face at sicheng’s mention and his eyes flicked up at the ceiling nervously, signaling to jisung he must have been the victim of that incident. 

the commercials ended and the program came back on television, and like zombies all of the four boy’s focus turned back to it. chenle stood up and held out his hand for jisung to take. he accepted it, fingers wrapping around the witch’s, and let himself be pulled off the chair and down the hallway. chenle led him into another room. there was a fireplace and candles lighting up the room like the last. the walls were covered in shelves, each one stacked with ancient, dusty books and glass jars of… things. the one filled with moving eyeballs made jisung’s stomach flip. in the center of the room was a table with an open book on top of it. chenle let go of his hand to pick up the heavy book. he skimmed the open page and then closed it. the book floated out of his hold and drifted back to one of the shelves. 

“i want to show you something new i learned,” he said. chenle held his arms out and closed his eyes. his neck slowly leaned back until his chin pointed to the ceiling. suddenly, his body erupted into flames. fire danced along his arms, his neck, his entire being, and made him glow bright orange and yellow. jisung, jaw dropped, watched it spread from chenle’s legs to the floorboards to consume the wood beneath him. it suddenly extinguished itself and normal chenle returned. 

“i’ve been working on that for a bit. i think i’m close to finally mastering fire,” he said, proudly. 

“that was so cool, what the fuck! you were a literal fireball!” jisung exclaimed. he approached chenle and brought his hand up to his cheek to check how warm he was. surprisingly, for a boy that had just been covered in fire, he was quite cold. chenle blushed and smiled at the contact, making jisung’s heart skip a beat. he pulled his hand away and hid it behind his back.

“thank you,” chenle said. he raised his arm into the air and another book came floating down into his hands. he blew the dust off of it and opened it. 

“this is what i want to learn next,” he said, showing the page to jisung. a majority of it was written in a foreign language, possibly latin, but a part of the page was taken up by a faded drawing. it was a sketch of a figure surrounded by a pink cloud. 

“it translates to something like healing aura. basically, i’d be surrounded by a cloud that can heal things. it’s completely different from fire and everything so it’s going to be difficult to master. i’m excited though. sicheng and hyuck are gonna help me,” chenle explained, closing the book, “ anyways, we should go back now. it’s almost two in the morning.”

he flicked his wrist and the book in his hands flew away again. jisung nodded and tried to hide his disappointment. as usual, he never wanted the night with him to end. chenle grabbed his hands and pulled him close, and his surroundings began to go black again. the journey was more rough this time, so they were thrown forcefully back into jisung’s room. chenle landed on the edge of the bed but jisung, unfortunately, landed right in front of him. he stumbled and fell forward, so he hung above the witch on the bed. heat rushed to his face as he stared down at the startled witch. his eyes accidentally flicked down to his shining lips and suddenly the smell of a burning match met his nose, causing it to crinkle. he noticed a gray stream of smoke flowing from the top of chenle’s beet red face. jisung quickly pulled himself up, tripping backwards over his own feet.

“i think you’re burning up there,” he said, wafting the air. chenle sat up and pressed a hand to his head. closing his eyes, he muttered an incoherent incantation and the smoke vanished. 

“sometimes that happens when i get… flustered,” he replied as he got off the bed. avoiding eye contact, he wiped the soot that now covered his hands on his jeans and announced he had to leave. jisung waved him goodbye as he disappeared in a cloud of black and gold, but the smell of smoke and the speed of his racing heart lingered for the rest of the night. 

 

the next morning, jisung was met with suspicious looks from his mother. despite cracking his window open, his sheets still reeked of fire, which his mother suspected was a sign of him smoking again. that was better than the real reason, that the witch that had been sneaking into his room every night was temporarily on fire last night because jisung had made him flustered. 

his usual trio met up at the skate park that morning like every other sunday. they sat at the top of the half pipe, legs dangling over the edge, munching on a bag of chips and passing a joint around as the sun beat down on them. jisung watched the skaters below him fly by while different thoughts- most about onr witch in particular- rushed through mind. he was brought out of his reverie by the tap on his shoulder. he turned back to his friends, who looked at him expectantly. 

“what?” he asked. stuck in his daydream, he’d obviously missed their conversation.

“party at mina’s tonight. you’re coming with us, right?” mark asked. he raised his head towards the sky and blew a cloud of smoke into the air. jisung groaned, suddenly remembered their plans. he wasn’t in the mood for partying at all but maybe it would get his mind off of things. he confirmed with mark he would go, producing a grin on the elder’s face. jeno leaned over and pat him on the shoulder. 

“don’t worry. it’s gonna be fun as hell,” he told the younger. somehow, jisung doubted that would come true.

 

mina’s house “was creepy as shit, but cool,” according mark. it was a gigantic victorian mansion outside of town. the site of the party, the backyard, was made entirely of forest. the sun was long after setting, adding to the eerie vibes. only the bonfire and a few lights hanging off the deck provided light.

after exiting jeno’s car, the three boys were instantly met with some friends from school, including felix, guanlin, hyunjin, and others. a few minutes later, someone shoved a red solo cup filled with a mysterious liquid into jisung’s hands. of course, he drank the entire thing. and then another, and another, and another, so soon he was sat on a lawn chair in front of the blazing fire with the world spinning around him. jeno and mark were on the opposite side of the lawn, playing some stupid game jisung couldn’t bother to be involved in. his eyes traveled past them, to an unfamiliar girl standing a few feet away from him and staring back at him. she wore a short black dress with a striped sweater underneath. around her neck, he recognized, were crystals similar to chenle’s. his mind drifted back to the boy, instantly sad because he’d rather be talking to chenle at home than wasting his time here. or maybe he just wished the girl was chenle. drunk, lonely, and more friendly than usual, he smiled and waved in her direction. the girl didn’t smile back but still began to walk over. 

“hi,” he mumbled, eyes fluttering open and closed, “i’m jisung.”

he stood up from the lawn chair, wobbling slightly. the girl grasped on to his wrist tightly to help him stay up. he smiled in embarrassment and looked to the ground. he felt the girl tug his arm, and soon he was being led into the dark shadows of the forest. they walked by the last groups of people and soon they were alone, hidden by the trees and thick foliage. 

“w-what’s your name?” he asked. he suddenly became aware of the danger of the situation he was in. alone, drunk, and in the middle of the forest, this could be the end. his heart rate spiked as the girl spoke up. her voice was enchanting, but terrifying.

“you don’t need to know that,” she replied, leaning close to jisung’s ear. her icy breath created goosebumps on the parts of his skin it came in contact with. she leaned back and closed the distance between their lips. they shared one kiss and soon she was traveling down his neck. suddenly, he felt a sharp pain above his collarbone. it felt as if two needles had been jabbed into him and were sucking the life out of him. he no longer possessed any strength to be able to push her away, and as the pain persisted he became more and more weak. the girl pulled away and disappeared as he sunk to the ground. 

he laid on the dirt and leaves, head up to the sky and his vision fading in and out every few seconds. he rubbed the source of pain and, once he pulled his hand back, he discovered he was bleeding. 

“what the fuck,” he groaned to himself.  _ leave it to me to die in the middle of the forest- alone _ , he thought. 

he used the little strength he had left to pick himself up off the ground and stumble through the darkness. after a few minutes of tripping over twigs and pebbles, he found the familiar dirt path that led to a home of a witch. jisung decided his house was probably closer than mina’s, and chenle was probably more experienced in whatever the fuck had just happened to him. as he stumbled along the path, black and red spots littered his vision. he ignored the total exhaustion creeping over him and continued on.

he recognized the glowing lanterns that hung from the branches and knew he was going the right way. soon, he reached the small cottage. 

the windows glowed with light, and smoke emerged from the chimney, signaling someone was awake. jisung didn’t knock on the door, too drunk and too much in pain to do the proper thing, instead he shouted the witch’s name.

“chenle!” he called out, “chenleee.”

in a few seconds, the red door creaked open, and chenle peered out from behind it. when he caught sight of jisung, he ran out the door. he was dressed in an oversized black sweater and pajama pants with -ironically enough- green witches riding brooms on them. 

“what are you doing here at this time of night?” chenle asked, grabbing hold of jisung’s forearm. he dragged him into the cottage. he attempted to dodge the floating candles scattered around the house, but accidentally hit into a few. the wax splattered to the floor and sizzled. 

the four boys he had met the last time sat in the living room- donghyuck, jaemin, renjun, and sicheng. jisung drunkenly waved at them once he entered. 

“it’s dangerous to be out here at-“ chenle stopped in the middle of his sentence. he stared at jisung’s bloody neck.

“hyuck. is that…?” chenle asked. donghyuck got up from the couch and approached jisung. his eyes widened once he caught sight of whatever was on jisung’s neck. 

donghyuck nodded, “yeah, shit, he was drank from. god, look how pale he is, he’s probably almost been drained. i can heal him.”

donghyuck scurried down the hallway and into a bedroom, sicheng following, while chenle guided jisung to sit down.

“what do you mmmean i’ve been drank from?” he slurred. he plopped on to the couch. pain shot up his body and he groaned. he laid down.

“god! be careful,” chenle exclaimed. he sat down on the ground next to the couch and rested his chin on the cushion. 

“did you come in contact with any vampires tonight?” donghyuck asked as he re-entered the room. sicheng soon joined with some bottles of mysterious liquids in his arms. 

“i don’t know… all i remember from tonight is that i kissed this girl and all of a sudden she was like… drinking from my neck and shit… i feel so tired, i’m gonna go to sleep now.”

“a girl?” chenle asked. jisung nodded. the witch’s expression in response was unreadable to jisung’s intoxicated mind. 

“really. that’s all you got from that?” sicheng asked chenle, he then turned back to the younger boy, “jisung, you need to stay awake or you might… uh… die.”

donghyuck approached with a glass bottle in his hand. inside was a dark red fluid. he opened it and held it to jisung, who sat back up. 

“you need to drink this. don’t worry, it’s not blood or whatever. just something that will stimulate red blood cell production and all that,” he said. jisung held the drink up to his lips reluctantly. he titled it back and drank, ignoring the awful, bitter taste. 

“wait. if i died from a vampire bite wouldn’t that mean i’d come back as a vampire? that’d be cool as fuck,” jisung drunkenly murmured, “be able to like fly and run really fast and shit.”

“where did you find this kid?” renjun asked. donghyuck laughed and responded, “no, i don’t remember the exact process but there’s more to becoming a vampire than that.”

sicheng sat on the chair beside him and handed him a mug of hot tea. the taste of strawberries and sugar instantly washed away the bitterness that lingered in his mouth from donghyuck’s concoction, and it made him feel bubbly. chenle joined him on the couch. there was soon a cold, wet sensation felt on his neck that made him jump. he turned his head toward chenle, who he realized was washing his neck with a damp cloth. propped on his legs, he leaned over jisung and carefully cleaned the cut. the drunk boy watched him intently as he wiped the blood away. 

“you’re cute when you’re all worried like this,” jisung said. chenle looked away from his neck to frown at him.

“thanks?” he said. he removed the cloth from jisung’s neck once it was clean. he left the couch to put it away and returned to sit next to jisung. 

the other boys had resumed to watching their show on television now that jisung was alright. chenle whispered to him, “you’re drunk, right?”

jisung nodded, “veryy.”

chenle playfully hit him on the shoulder, “stupid. you could’ve died tonight.”

jisung pouted, “‘m sorry. i don’t even know why i went to that party, i thought it would help take my mind off of stuff. but then i drank way too much and when i do that i get really emotional… and lonely. and then that girl was there and she seemed nice-”

chenle interrupted, “you ramble when you’re drunk.” his fingers played with his necklaces as he spoke, reminding jisung of another detail. 

“you know, she actually had the same crystals around her neck like you do. the pink and black ones. she reminded me of you until she started going all vampire on me,” he said.

“even when you were kissing her?” chenle asked. jisung thought he heard him wrong, being drunk and tired and all.

“what?” he asked, cheeks burning.

“nevermind,” chenle replied. jisung brought his knees to his chest, making himself into a ball, and shifted on the couch so he was more comfortable. his eyes began to feel very heavy. 

“i’m tired. can i go to sleep now?” he mumbled. 

“hey hyuck, is it safe for him to sleep now?” chenle turned away from the boy to ask the other witch across the room. donghyuck checked the time and then nodded, “yeah. his blood should be mostly regenerated by now.”

jisung began to close his eyes before chenle tugged him.

“not here!” he said, “you can sleep with me up in my room tonight, if you want.”

jisung nodded and let chenle lead him upstairs to the last bedroom down the hallway. it was dark in the room except for a floating candle that only illuminated his bed. his black cat rested atop of the blankets.

“lunaaa,” he called. the cat’s ears perked, and the cat jumped off the bed. 

the two boys sat down.

“i can’t believe witches  _ and _ vampires are real,” jisung mumbled as the older boy pulled the blankets atop of both of them. chenle laughed, “they are, and so are werewolves. you can find them all over this town if you know what to look for.”

jisung plopped his head on to the pillow, “werewolves?! shit… jeno thought he saw this huge wolf one time but we all just thought our weed was laced or something… woah.”

“you smoke too?”

“yeah, why?”

“i don’t know. i’ve never done anything like that since sicheng acts like an almighty overlord when it comes to that stuff. doesn’t even make sense because jaem and hyuck have come home drunk numerous times.”

“he probably doesn’t want you to end up like me. half dead, drunk, and stumbling through a forest at 12am.”

chenle smiled but the grin quickly disappeared, “still…”

jisung shifted himself so he laid on his side, facing chenle. 

“do you want to?” he asked. 

chenle shrugged, “i guess so…”

“you can come to a party with me, if you want. hopefully it won’t end up like tonight’s, they aren’t usually like that,” jisung said. chenle’s face brightened in response to his invitation. he looked up at jisung, moving his head up the pillow, and nodded. 

“that’d be cool. thanks,” he replied. jisung grinned back. a moment of silence followed, which they spent locked in eye contact. the faint noise of the television downstairs played in the background, but it was drowned out by the blood rushing in jisung’s ears. he stared into chenle’s dark eyes, at his adorable grin, at the dimples on his cheeks. chenle stared back, eyes locked onto something below jisung’s nose. this moment was broken by luna jumping on to the bed and placing herself right between the two boy’s faces. she purred loudly as chenle pet the top of her head. jisung rolled on to his back and felt dizzy with exhaustion. he mumbled a good night and his eyes drooped close. 

 

jisung woke the next morning in a pile of small blankets and throw pillows, and with his arms wrapped around and his body pressed against something warm. his heart stopped once he opened his eyes, because that something was chenle. 

jisung’s arm rested on chenle’s waist, his hand wrapped in one of the witch’s. chenle’s hair tickled the top of jisung’s nose due to the close distance between their heads. the contact made his body buzz with a mixture of nerves and happiness. he closed his eyes again to enjoy it a moment longer. 

after a few minutes, the older boy began to stir. jisung quickly removed his arm and rolled onto his back again. laying on his back, he noticed details of the bedroom he hadn’t seen the night before. above him, succulents and glowing jars hung from the ceiling. there were shelves all along the bedroom walls, stacked with books, knick-knacks, and charms. polaroids decorated the wall the bed was pushed against. there were ones of all the boys in the house. the picture closest to jisung’s face was of chenle and renjun perched in a tree, looking above at the sky. 

the boy next to him suddenly sat up. the bed creaked as he moved. he turned towards jisung to check if he was awake, a grin spreading across his face once he discovered he was. 

“good morning,” he said. he outstretched his arms and yawned. 

“morning,” jisung said back. he joined chenle sitting up on the bed. 

“are you feeling better?” chenle asked. he nodded. pulling his phone out of his pocket, he found his notification stream was filled with multiple messages from his friends.

 

**jeno:** dudeeee where’d you go? [11:47pm]

**jeno:** hello?? plz just tell me ur alright?? [12:01am]

**jeno:** someone said they saw u walking in the woods w someone a while ago wtf im coming w mark [12:02am]

**jeno:** ok ur snap maps is on we’re following u to whenever u are [12:04am]

**mark:** dude WHY r we being lead to a creepy old house were u KIDNAPPED [12:25am]

**mark:** Okay wtf the house just lit up and ppl r coming outone of them is kinda cute did he kidnap u??!!!! [12:30am]

 

the witch noticed jisung pale and quickly spoke up, “your friends are fine! they’ve been downstairs with hyuck all night. are you feeling well enough to get up?”

chenle led jisung to the living room. one hand laid on jisung’s hip for support as he was still tired and aching with pain from the night before ( _ vampire bite PLUS a hangover. pure shit _ , he noted to himself). 

as they traveled down the stairs, the laughing from the living room grew louder. upon entering, jisung discovered that jeno and mark sat on one of the couches. donghyuck, renjun, and jaemin sat across from them, smiles on their faces. sicheng appeared from the kitchen with a tray of herbal tea and placed it on the coffee table. he noticed the two younger boys peeking out from the hallway. “hi guys. how are you feeling, jisung?” he asked. the mention of his name caused jisung’s friends to turn around. both boys got up and engulfed the younger in a hug. chenle’s hand drifted from his side during it. 

“oh my god. we thought you got kidnapped or something!!” mark said, “thank god you’re okay.”

jeno ruffled his hair, “i can’t believe you weren’t joking about all this shit… you got bitten by a vampire and came to a witch for help?! mad!”

mark’s eyes widened as he looked at jisung’s neck, he pointed towards the two holes the vampire had left on him, “dude, look at that! that’s so cool.”

jisung laughed and asked, “did you guys stay here all night?”

“yeah. your… friends told us to come in and they explained everything to us. we went up to check on you but you were asleep, so we came back down and slept on the couches. we were really wasted and i thought i had alcohol poisoning when i saw all this,” mark gestured towards the candles in the air. jisung nodded in agreement.

sicheng called the group into the kitchen for breakfast. they sat at the table, chenle next to jisung, of course. jeno shot jisung a weird look from across the table, but he ignored it. food floated across the table and onto their plates, producing looks of awe from mark and jeno. the rest of the group laughed as they sat there, jaws dropped.

soon, the meal ended and the boys were on their way home. they thanked the witches for everything once more and the door shut behind them. the three turned and started down the dirt path.

“that was… woah,” jeno muttered. 

“that donghyuck guy was… woah,” mark replied. jisung laughed, “you think he’s cute?”

mark blushed and began stuttering, “no… he was just… cool. hey! why are we talking about that instead of what we saw last night, huh?”

the two older friends glanced at each other, sharing a look that confused and scared jisung at the same time.

“what?” he asked in a panicked tone.

jeno smiled, “we went up to see if you were alright last night. and you and that chenle guy were like… cuddling. have anything to say about that?”

jisung felt his face go hot. he turned his head in the opposite way so they wouldn’t see and grumbled a single worded response, “no.” 

“you guys are cute,” jeno said. 

jisung turned around and punched him lightly in the chest, “shut up or i’ll kick you in the shins.” 

 

chenle rested at the bottom of jisung’s bed, playing with his cat, while jisung did his homework throughout the night. papers and binders were scattered across the covers, while his other supplies rested in the folds of the blankets. he had an array of assignments to finish, including a packet of practice problems for his calculus final he didn’t even know how to begin. thankfully, he found out, chenle’s homeschool education was better than jisung’s public one. in less than half an hour, jisung understood an entire unit whose test he had failed earlier on in the year. 

“you’re magic,” jisung muttered, speeding through the homework questions now that he understood them. chenle laughed, “i am indeed.”

in the middle of writing his book report, his phone vibrated. he checked his notifications and saw it was a reminder from his coach about the week’s practice schedule. there were extra practices planned due to the game next week against their rivals. jisung groaned.

chenle frowned at him from across the bed. “what’s wrong?” he asked.

“i have long practices every day this week. we have a big game friday,” jisung grumbled. his annoyance soon disappeared after he remembered something.

“hey,” he said, “we have a game. do you want to come? you, jaemin, and the rest of the guys can go together.” 

chenle’s face lit up- literally, fire sparked in his eyes- and he nodded excitedly, “of course, i’d love to!” 

the younger beamed at him. he was excited and nervous at the same time, feeling a sudden urge to impress chenle. hopefully, he could.

the game went surprisingly well. their rivals were usually formidable opponents and often beat them in every other sport. thankfully, with the combination of lucas and mark’s offense and jeno and jisung’s killer defense, they won the game 55 to 32. during halftime, jisung saw the group of witches in the bleachers. chenle waved at him excitedly and gave him two thumbs up. he smiled back, before being dragged away by his coach to go over the strategy for the second half. 

once the game was over, the team went into the locker room. jisung rushed his two friends out, towel still around his neck, so they could talk to chenle and his friends. he spotted them standing near the exit. to his surprise, the boys were in a conversation with olivia, one of his classmates. she was a friend of a friend. all he knew about her was that she was quiet and mysterious. she caught sight of them approaching and smiled, then ended her conversation and said goodbye. 

“how’d you start talking with olivia?” jisung asked them immediately. 

“we know her from…  _ other _ places,” jaemin responded. mark’s eyebrows furrowed at his hint, not understanding what he was saying. donghyuck sighed and spelt it out for him, “she’s like us. magic person.” 

“ohh!” mark said. 

jisung didn’t know whether to be surprised or not. he recalled hyunjin telling him olivia once gave her a healing charm that worked exceptionally well in keeping her energized and healthy ever since. previously, he assumed it was some kind of placebo effect, even with hyunjin’s comments: “it’s magic!” and “the work of a witch.”.  _ hm, maybe hyunjin knew the whole time _ , he said to himself. 

jeno suddenly spoke up, eyes on a message on his phone, “hey, lucas is having a party tonight. you guys wanna join us?” 

jaemin, donghyuck, and renjun all looked at each other, simultaneously nodding their heads. they then remembered chenle, and looked towards him. 

“will sicheng kill me?” chenle asked them. they nodded again. a look of worry washed over him, but it was quickly hidden. 

“oh well,” he said, shrugging, “let’s go.” 

 

lucas, one of their teammates, only lived a few streets down from the school so the seven decided to walk. mark led the way, deep in conversation with donghyuck at his side. jeno walked with jaemin and renjun, while the two youngest remained at the end of the group. jisung noticed the nervous vibes radiating off of chenle as they walked down the dark sidewalk.

“are you okay?” he asked quietly. chenle fumbled with his hands, a habit jisung noticed he did when he was uneasy, and looked at the younger boy. 

“i’ve never been to a party before,” he said, “sicheng never lets me go out with the other guys so…”

“you’ll be okay, just stick with me,” he replied, patting the elder on the shoulder to reassure him. chenle nodded, eyes focused on the sidewalk.

“by the way, is sicheng your brother?” jisung asked. he didn’t really understand the dynamic between the five boys. they acted like brothers, sicheng even more like a parent, but didn’t appear to be so. 

“no. we were family friends. then some bad stuff happened to all our parents and he took in me and the other guys in,” chenle said. 

“oh, sorry for bringing that up.”

“it’s fine. you’re allowed to wonder… anyways, are high school parties like the ones in the movies?”

“lucas’s? yes. his are known for being wild, so you’re going to have a great introduction to high school life.”

chenle chuckled, “oh. great.” 

jisung grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “don’t worry,” he repeated, “just stay by me and you’ll be fine.” 

 

they reached lucas’s house a few minutes later. from the front windows, they could see flashing lights and a large mass of people inside. the seven boys rushed up the stairs and into the home. the group quickly divided, the older five boys abandoning jisung and chenle in the foyer after seconds of being in the house. jisung looked around. he caught the strong smell of weed flowing from the living room. ahead of them, people sat on the stairs and in the hallway with drinks in their hands. jisung grabbed chenle’s hand and brought him through the crowd to the less populated kitchen. there were all sorts of drinks on the counter: red solo cups, shot glasses, etc. chenle looked at them with interest. 

“you wanna drink something?” jisung asked after noticing him eyeing them.

chenle’s eyes widened, “i don’t know… do you?”

“i’m not going to tonight, but you can if you want. i’ll be here if you drink too much.”

chenle reluctantly grabbed a shot glass filled with an unknown clear liquid. he held it up to the light and examined it, then quickly chugged it and slammed it down on the counter. he gagged, but grabbed another. 

mid-cough, he said, “jaemin said witches apparently have a very high alcohol tolerance. that might just be him, though.” 

“maybe you shouldn’t test that,” jisung said, but before he could stop him chenle had another shot glass in his mouth. the expression on chenle’s face told jisung jaemin was definitely wrong.

“jesus!” jisung exclaimed. the witch laughed, “yolo. bitches.”

there was a loud crash from outside. the two ran to the back door and saw someone had jumped on a table and broken it in half. jisung checked the culprit wasn’t one of his friends and turned back to chenle, who was staring into space.

“jisung… i feel weird,” he muttered. he brought his hand up to his forehead. 

“that’s what happens when you drink that much so fast,” jisung responded. chenle smiled goofily, soon erupting into a fit of giggles. he tried to walk forward but tripped over his own foot. he yelped as he crashed into jisung’s chest. the younger grabbed ahold of his wrists to support him. his skin was on fire, as opposed to the time he felt like ice after bursting into flames.

“sorry…” chenle said. he removed himself from jisung’s hold and straightened himself up.

“do you want to walk around?” jisung asked. chenle nodded and wrapped his arms around one of jisung’s, sending chills through his body. the alcohol had definitely hit him, since jisung was basically carrying him around the house. he brought them back to the living room, where lucas and a few of his friends sat in a circle. in the center was jaemin, performing magic tricks that had everyone in the room amazed. lucas greeted him once he saw him, taking the pen out of his mouth.

“hey ji! you seeing this shit?!” he said, pointing at jaemin, who was currently making a shot glass float in the air. everyone was ooh-ing and aah-ing. 

lucas offered jisung a hit. jisung accepted it and brought it to his lips. he felt chenle’s eyes on him as he held it in his mouth. after a while, he removed it and breathed out, allowing a cloud of smoke to escape his mouth. after repeating this a few times, chenle said, “woahhh. that’s cool.”

jisung handed it back to lucas, who looked at chenle with confusion. he realized he had forgotten to introduce them to each other.

“oh, this is my friend, chenle,” jisung said. chenle detached one of his arms in order to wave at the older boy. he immediately wrapped it around jisung’s again, snuggling into his side. he wasn’t sure if it was from being high, but jisung was hyper aware of the touching now. he couldn’t ignore the way chenle’s fingers intermittently poked at his forearm now. neither could he ignore chenle’s hair poking his neck, or the cold tip of his ear against his own burning skin.

“friend?” lucas asked, voice raised as a loud song was playing from the speaker. the sudden beat drop of the song made jisung’s already rapidly beating chest vibrate. lucas’s eyes glanced at their interlocked arms and at chenle’s head resting on jisung’s shoulder. jisung blushed even more and lucas laughed at his embarrassment. he sighed and dragged himself and chenle away.

the buzzing in his ears from the loud music became more noticeable once they walked outside. less people were out here, and only a small speaker played music at a reasonable volume (unlike inside, where the walls were shaking with every beat). they walked over to the broken white table and looked at what was left of it. cups, ping pong balls, and parts of the table were scattered along the grass and the patio.

“does this normally happen?” chenle asked, pointing at the scene in front of them. jisung shrugged. the parties he went to were usually less crazy, but it always depended on the circumstances. this one was after winning a game after their rivals, so people were bound to get crazy. he kicked a piece of the table with the side of his foot. it skidded across the stone beneath them, bouncing against chenle’s sneaker and disappearing into the grass. jisung glanced up from the ground, catching the eye of the boy who was already staring at him. his face burned with embarrassment. 

suddenly, the witch began walking forward, closer and closer to him. once he was close enough, chenle wrapped his arms around jisung’s neck. he laughed under his breath and maintained eye contact with jisung, who was frozen in place. the alcohol had obviously gotten to the witch, making him more confident and reckless at the same time. jisung, on the other hand, was high and panicking. chenle’s face was so close his breath warmed his collarbone. 

cold fingertips brushed the side of his neck, on top of the area bitten by the vampire a few days before. jisung broke eye contact with him to peer down at chenle’s hand.

“This still hasn’t healed?” he asked, voice low. jisung shook his head. the bite marks were still visible, which was why he had been wearing turtlenecks all week. tonight, the sweater he wore hung below it, but it wasn’t noticeable unless one searched for it. 

jisung took a deep, shaky breath. his heart was in overdrive and he felt he couldn’t hide it anymore. his eyes drooped closed, hoping to relax himself. it was no use, as chenle’s fingers continued to draw circles on the skin of his neck. he overheard chenle muttering a spell quietly and soon the area of the bite heated up. jisung brought his own hand up to his neck, touching the wound. it was hot to the touch, but he felt the wound close up beneath his fingers. 

“it’s not completely gone but that’s the best i can do for now,” chenle said.

“it’s okay. thank you,” jisung replied, hushed, staring straight into the other’s eyes. 

he couldn’t remember how they got there, yet suddenly they were both leaning forward. but, of course, something had to ruin the moment. chenle’s drunk mind accidentally teleported them back into the busy, sweaty living room and, surprised by the sudden scene change, they quickly pulled away from each other. someone behind them yelled “did no one else see them just fucking TELEPORT in here?!” but neither acknowledged it. everyone in the room was way too out of it to remember anything from the night, jisung hoped. he realized practically no one had seen it anyways, because a majority of the room’s focus was on jeno and renjun. there was a crowd surrounding them and they were all yelling in celebration, as if something they’d all been anticipating had finally occurred, and  _ oh my god jeno and renjun are making out _ .

“oh my god jeno and renjun are making out!” jisung exclaimed. chenle pulled his arms off of the other’s neck and turned in the other direction. sure enough, jeno and renjun were kissing a few feet away from them.

“i thought jeno was straight,” chenle shouted over the music. 

“i did too,” jisung replied. he, mark, and jeno had never really been clear about their sexualities, so jisung had always assumed he was best friends with two hets. he realized he was wrong in this moment. 

mark, though, was still being his straight self across the room. he had his arms around some girl’s waist while in conversation with jaemin and donghyuck. they hadn’t seemed to realize the scene occurring a few feet away from them, so the two young boys ran over to alert them.

“jeno and renjun are making out over there!” jisung announced. the three’s eyes simultaneously widened and donghyuck erupted into laughter.

“are you kidding me?  _ he _ got to be someone’s gay awakening before  _ me _ ?!” donghyuck exclaimed, waving his hands in the air. he hopped off the arm of the couch he was sitting on and ran over to check out the scene himself. he laughed again once he caught sight of the two and then returned to the rest of the group. 

“this is unfair. he didn’t even have plans to get with anyone tonight, and i did and i’m all by myself,” donghyuck pouted and went back to his seat on the couch. jaemin pat his shoulder in comfort and offered him his drink. his tan hands took the cup and held it up to his mouth. jisung saw his eyes change focus to chenle, who was drunkenly slurring gibberish in his ear, and his eyes widened. 

“zhong chenle!” he said. upon hearing his name, chenle looked over at him. his eyes drooped open and closed as he spat out a “what?”

“how drunk are you!?” donghyuck asked. jaemin’s eyebrows raised at his accusation and he looked at chenle too. he sighed and put his head in his hands.

“sicheng is gonna kill us…,” he groaned. 

“did you really expect me to stay completely sober at a high school party?” chenle asked. 

“no but,  _ lucifer _ , you’re wasted. sicheng’s definitely gonna notice,” donghyuck replied. 

“oh well. h-he has to stop babying me 24/7. i’m 17! you were doing the exact same thing last year and he had no problems with it, why is it so different with me?” chenle asked, voice raising with each word. 

“you know why…” 

chenle scoffed and rolled his eyes. he wrapped his arms around jisung’s waist and teleported them both back outside to the area they stood before. 

“w-why’d you do that?” jisung asked, confused at chenle’s response to donghyuck and jaemin, and also flustered at their sudden proximity again. 

“i’m sick of all of them treating me like a toddler all the time. i get that some stuff has happened to make them so protective of me but it gets fucking annoying after awhile.”

jisung noticed his sudden cursing, but decided against mentioning it as it wasn’t the best moment to tease him. the witch pulled jisung even closer to him and rested his forehead on his shoulder. his lips brushed the skin of jisung’s neck, an explosion going off in his stomach at the touch. 

“you’re the only one who doesn’t treat me like that,” chenle said, his voice muffled as his mouth was pressed against the fabric of jisung’s sweater, “thank you.”

jisung took a shaky breath in attempt to calm his racing heart. he raised his hand to chenle’s nape and rubbed the back of his head. 

he overheard the sound of sneakers hitting pavement ahead of him. peering over to the source of the noise, he saw jaemin, donghyuck, and mark standing near the sliding door, looking over at the two boys with concern. they were worried by chenle’s sudden disappearance. donghyuck’s furrowed brows relaxed after jisung gave them a thumbs up, signaling chenle was okay. they retreated back into the house, leaving the two alone again. 

in the back of jisung’s mind were questions about their conversation. what did donghyuck mean by “you know why”? what happened to chenle to make them so concerned about him? he didn’t voice them, instead keeping them as thoughts in his mind. chenle was obviously already upset, he didn’t want to make him feel worse by reminding him of bad memories. 

they remained on the patio for awhile, swaying back in forth to the faint sound of music seeping out of the house. jisung didn’t have any desire to go back inside and party, not when chenle was like this. jisung knew from experience that that combination could result in something bad. so, he remained with the witch, allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder. 

after half an hour, chenle lifted his head. he looked around at his surroundings sleepily, through eyes half open. 

“how late is it?” he asked. jisung brought his phone out to read the time, “12:17.”

chenle sighed, “we should probably go back in then. if hyuck isn’t with someone right now he definitely wants to go home.”

jisung agreed, leading the two back into the house. they traveled through the kitchen and back into the living room where their friends sat on the couches. renjun and jeno were happily squeezed into the recliner, legs and arms entangled. donghyuck and mark sat on another with an awkward distance between them. pink tinted mark’s cheeks as they continued their conversation. jaemin was nowhere to be seen, presumably doing more “magic tricks” for the stoners in the other room. 

as they approached, donghyuck and renjun’s focus shifted to the two younger boys. renjun climbed off of jeno and approached chenle. the blonde witch waved. 

“are you feeling okay? hyuck told me about before…” renjun said. behind him, donghyuck smiled weakly.

chenle nodded, “i’m fine. are we going home soon?” 

“sure. we just have to find jaemin, i’ll go look now,” renjun replied, turning away from them. he walked over to jeno, pecked him on the cheek, and then disappeared into the crowd that filled the rest of the room. soon, he returned, dragging a plastered jaemin into the room. 

“i was… in the middle of something there!” he slurred. 

donghyuck raised an eyebrow at him, to which renjun replied, “he was making out with some jacked dude in the hallway.”

“he has a name!” jaemin said, frowning as he continued, “that i don’t remember.”

the seven exited the house. renjun and jeno had to drag jaemin out, his arms resting on each of their shoulders. they walked a bit down the sidewalk to a patch that wasn’t illuminated by the street lamps. the witches were gone with a snap of their fingers, leaving the three boys in the darkness of the night.

“so… renjun?” mark asked as soon as they were gone. it wasn’t visible, but jisung could sense jeno tense up at the sound of the other’s name.

“y-yeah,” was all he said, “we’re going on a… date tomorrow.”

the two squealed, slapping jeno on the back in congratulations. they began to make their way back to the house. 

“what about you two?” jeno asked. mark and jisung went quiet, making jeno laugh. 

“come on,” he said, “you were talking to donghyuck  _ all _ night, you barely paid attention to that girl you guys were with. and  _ you- _ ”

jeno pointed at jisung with his index finger. the younger’s eyes widened.

“-barely spent a minute with us. where were you and chenle the whole night, besides being out in the backyard for like an hour?” 

jisung stuttered, embarrassment messing with his thought process, “hey! y-you guys are the ones who left us right after we arrived. we just walked around. he was really drunk.”

mark huffed out a laugh and shared a look with jeno, the one jisung recognized from the day they were all at chenle’s house. jisung kicked them both in the back of the legs, exclaiming, “stop looking at each other like that!”

jeno, being overdramatic, collapsed to the ground and held his legs in pain. mark and jisung ignored him and continued walking down the sidewalk. he quickly scrambled back onto his feet once they realized they weren’t paying attention. they finally reached the steps to the front door, but hesitated from re-entering the home. it was late, after all, and none of the three saw a point in going back in with the others now gone. 

“you guys wanna leave?” mark asked. the two nodded. they pivoted on their heels and walked back down the stairs and into the night. 

 

saturday night, jisung slept through the entire night, void of any disturbances. when he awoke the next morning, he discovered a yellowed piece of paper on the rug. he unfolded it and found it was a note from chenle: “ _ hey! so… i’m kind of grounded rn bc of the other night so if i don’t come for a few days don’t think i like died anything lol. luv, chenle _ ” 

his heart surged at his signing off and the little drawing he added of a witch on a broom next to his name. he placed the note on his desk and got up. there was a tinge of disappointment in his chest, as he knew he wouldn’t see the witch for another few days. 

 

two nights spent alone and jisung finally had enough. he announced to his mother he was going to mark’s house that night and marched out to the spare car at 9pm. instead of taking the turn to mark’s house, though, he took the road that led to the forest. with a flashlight and a map of all the hiking trails, jisung reached chenle’s house in record time. he snuck around to the side of chenle’s window and used the vines that grew off the house to hoist himself up. it was difficult, and when he finally reached the open window he fell into the room, causing a loud crash.

the room was pitch black, minus the moonlight that leaked in through the window he just entered through. he looked over at chenle’s bed and saw the boy staring back at him, confused and afraid. he held a small flame in his palm and looked ready to fling it at the intruder.

jisung held his arms out and jokingly repeated what chenle said the first night they met, “don’t be scared! i’m not trying to rob you or anything.” 

chenle immediately recognized his voice and calmed. sighing, he whispered, “it’s terrifying being on the other end of this.” 

jisung laughed and got up off the ground. he walked over to the bed and sat down on the blankets.

“hi,” he said, grinning at the other boy. chenle glared back and hit him on the shoulder lightly, “don’t smile like that! you scared me!” 

“why’d you come here, anyways?” he asked.

“i… missed you,” jisung replied, heat rushing to his cheeks. his fingers fumbled with the loose strings of the blanket to prevent himself from exploding with nerves. chenle smiled back, “i missed you too. i’m only grounded for another day thankfully.”

before jisung could reply, there was a knock on the bedroom door. sicheng’s voice called out from behind it, asking if he was okay due to the loud, worrying noise from before. as chenle responded to him, he motioned his hands in the direction of the closet.

“yeah. it’s okay. a few books fell over because of the wind,” chenle said. he turned to jisung and lowered his voice to a whisper, “quick! hide in there!!”

jisung’s eyes widened and he quickly followed the orders, stumbling into the closet and closing the door behind him. as soon as he was settled behind a few of chenle's sweaters, the door outside creaked open.

“i made some smoothies, if you want to try any. the berry one has some enhancers in it that should help you while you practice spell-casting,” sicheng said. jisung heard the noise of metal and plates hitting against each other, signaling he must’ve put something down on chenle’s bureau. the younger witch muttered a simple “thank you” in response.

“well, i hope you like it,” sicheng said, making his way out of the room. the door was halfway closed, light from the hallway still seeping into the dark bedroom, when sicheng stuck his head back in.

“le… you don’t have to stay in here all night, that’s not apart of the punishment. you can come out and talk to us, you know that right?” he asked.

“yeah. i’m just tired tonight.”

“oh well…” sicheng paused, “see you tomorrow then. good night.”

the door finally closed completely, allowing jisung to exit the closet. he creeped back over to the bed and sat down at the bottom of it. chenle sat, legs criss crossed, on top of the blankets with a blank expression on his face. he stared at the pillow in his lap, playing with its stray strings. something about his expression made him seem distant, like he was lost in his own mind.

“a-are you okay?” jisung asked. he placed his hand atop of chenle’s, stopping him from nervously fumbling his fingers. chenle looked up.

“you heard how awkward that was… right?” he asked. jisung shrugged.

“well… some things happened a few nights ago between me and sicheng… after the party,” he said. jisung squeezed his hand to signal he could go on if he wanted to.

“he was pissed off at me for being so drunk… and then i yelled at him for being so overprotective of me. we got into a tiny fight and now it’s just awkward because i don’t know what to say,” chenle said. he pulled his hand out of jisung’s and held it up to cover his face. he hid his face as he took a shaky breath. jisung recognized he was trying to hide his tears.

“hey… it’s okay,” he whispered. he brought his hands up to chenle’s and detached his small hands from his face, revealing his damp cheeks. the witch frowned as jisung dried his face with the sleeve of his sweater. tears continued to fall, but jisung kept his hand on his cheek so they absorbed into the fabric of his sleeve. in this moment of vulnerability, jisung finally realized how similar he and chenle were. the powers he possessed made him no less human than jisung. he was still a sensitive, troubled teen like him- just one that could burst into flames. 

“i wish i could help you the way you helped me that night… and take all of this away,” jisung said. he grabbed ahold of the witch’s hands again and brought them down to their laps. rubbing circles into chenle’s palms, he continued, “i can’t do that… but i’ll always be here if you need to talk.” 

“thank you,” chenle mumbled, “it just… sicheng, jun, jaem, hyuck, and i have been through a lot together. he’s basically raised us three. when i was younger, all of our parents were killed because of some clashes with some rival covens that were involved with dark magic. sicheng helped us all escape and saved our lives- he was only 12. h-he made a promise to my parents that he’d keep me safe. i think that’s why he’s so overprotective of me- i finally understood that last night after our fight. i feel so guilty for snapping at him like that when he’s just trying to do the right thing…

it’s just hard, y’know? as we grew up, i had to watch jaemin, renjun, and hyuck do all the fun things… i never got to actually do anything and i was jealous…”

“that’s completely normal to act out like that- a lot of kids who have strict parents do that. he’ll understand eventually, but you have to talk to him. in a normal conversation, where you’re not yelling at each other,” jisung replied. 

chenle nodded, “i’ll talk to him tomorrow… hopefully.” 

he then yawned and looked at the clock on the wall. eyebrows rising, he said, “it’s already that late? i’m exhausted.” 

jisung turned his head and read the time: 11:30pm. he started to climb off the bed, but was tugged back by the other’s hand on his wrist. 

“do you want me to stay tonight?” jisung asked, leaning back onto the bed. chenle nodded again, shyly, and muttered a quiet “please”. jisung laughed.

they crawled under the many blankets atop of chenle’s bed and closed their eyes. jisung’s hand rested in the space between their chests. not long after he closed his eyes, he felt cold fingers wrap around his own. his mouth twitched into a smile as he drifted to sleep. 

 

the following morning, jisung was awoken by something wet and rough touching his face. he sensed some weight on his chest as well. he opened his eyes and realized luna was laying on top of him, licking his face. beside him, chenle slept soundly. he had himself wrapped around jisung’s left arm, his face buried into his shoulder. as his chest rose intermittently, his faint breaths tickled jisung’s chin. 

above them, succulents swung slightly and the windchimes hit against each other. they left the window cracked open last night, allowing the refreshing morning breeze to flow into the room. he closed his eyes again, relishing the moment, and enjoyed the windchimes’s song. luna licked his face again and meowed loudly, waking up the boy wrapped around him.

jisung opened his eyes to watch chenle stir. the witch yawned and detached himself from the other to sit up in the bed. he rubbed his face and stretched his arms in the air. luna hopped off of jisung’s chest and into chenle’s lap, meowing again. 

chenle sighed and raised his hand. with a flick of his wrist, the door flew open. luna jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, presumably to the kitchen. as soon as she was out, the door closed again. chenle turned to jisung and smiled dopily. 

“good morning,” he said, “sorry if luna woke you up. she was hungry.”

jisung grinned in his direction, “it’s alright.”

chenle hopped off the bed and began to make his way to the door, expecting jisung to follow. he finally remembered the situation when his hand was on the doorknob. 

“shit,” he muttered, turning back around, “i forgot i was grounded for a second.”

jisung slipped off the bed, gathering his coat and shoes scattered on the wooden floor. the inside of his jacket was warm from laying in the sun, he noticed after putting it on. 

“don’t worry,” he replied, “i’ll go out the window again.”

chenle smiled at him funnily, “okay…”

“what?” jisung asked, making his way over to the window. he hung one leg outside the window, searching for footing in the vines while he looked back at chenle.

“it’s just funny… you sneaking out of my room,” chenle replied, walking over to the window. 

“yeah, i guess so,” jisung replied. he placed both legs out of the window and said goodbye, chenle ruffling his hair in response. he slid down the vines to the ground. his sneakers sunk into the mud as he jumped off the side of the house. peering above him, he saw chenle leaning out the window and waving. jisung waved back and then disappeared into the trees. 

as he walked along the wet dirt path, he laughed to himself. it was funny that he’d just snuck out of a boy’s house after spending the night. even funnier that it was his  _ friend’s _ house, that this was so normal for two people who knew each other for such a short time. he knew it wasn’t like him to befriend someone so easily, and especially to become so comfortable so quickly. jeno, mark, and jisung had been friends for years before he allowed them to even hug him for more than five seconds. yet he had just slept with chenle in his arms. 

chenle was different. meeting chenle was fate, after all, different from his other friendships that formed through school and sports. if he had not apparated into his room that night, jisung’s life would be much different now. jisung could barely fathom nights spent without their three am chats.

smiling to himself, jisung skipped to the end of the trail. the trees cleared, revealing the road his car was parked on the side of. he entered his car, hand dampened from the morning dew on the door handle, and opened his phone for the first time that morning. his eyes widened when he noticed the time, realizing he should have been at the skate park by now. he rapidly typed out a message in his group chat with jeno and mark:

 

**jisung:** im gna be a little late to the park today sry plz save me some of those cheese fries before the food truck runs out :-((

**jeno:** ji Ò-Ó

**jisung:** yes

**jeno:** r u gonna be late bcz u spent last night w chenle

**jisung:** no…

**jisung:** how did u know that

**jeno:** i’m literally dating the guy who sleeps in the room next to him. apparently u were very loud when u fell in through the window last night 

**mark:** OMG u climbed in thru the window… bf vibes

**jisung:** fuck renjun heard that? they all know it was me???

**jisung:** ANYWAYS. MARK. we’re just friends. 

**mark:** not for LONG!!! we’ll buy u fries tho. See u soon brother.

 

jisung sighed, tossing his phone into the passenger's seat. as he started up the car, his mind drifted away. every moment spent with chenle, he craved more and more for them to be more than friends. he frowned, worrying that’s all they’d ever be. 

“i have to tell him eventually…” he whispered to himself, “soon.”

 

saturday night, chenle apparated into jisung’s room with a backpack hanging off his shoulders. jisung turned away from his desk to say hello, instantly struck with confusion when he saw chenle fumbling through his closet. the witch grabbed his oversized golden state warriors hoodie out and tossed it into his lap. 

“put that on,” he said, “we’re going to the beach tonight.”

“what?” jisung asked. 

“i’ve finally mastered teleportation- even over long distances. you said you wanted to go to the beach, so i’m going to bring you to one. it’s like an hour and a half away by car,” chenle explained. jisung slipped the hoodie over his head and stood up. his chest was filled with excitement and nerves.

“i have towels and some snacks in my bag, so i think we’re all ready to go,” chenle said, pointing at his backpack. jisung nodded. he shoved his phone into his back pocket and held his arms out for chenle to take. chenle did, pulling their bodies dangerously close, and began muttering his usual incantation. jisung’s body began to feel weightless as the cream walls of his bedroom faded into darkness. a hissing noise ran through his ears. soon, his vision returned and they stood on a stretch of sand. jisung pulled back from chenle, still keeping their hands together, and looked around. they stood on the beach he used to visit as a child. he recognized the old theme park in the distance, the derelict ferris wheel barely visible through the fog. it closed the last year he visited. to their left was the sea, illuminated by the bright stars in the night sky. when he was younger, he remembered, he used to love coming to the beach at night. this coastal town was so far from any city that the beautiful night sky wasn’t blurred by light pollution. hundreds of stars hung above them, along with a bright full moon, and reflected across the dark waves. he took a deep breath in through his nose, taking in the salty smell in the air. he let out a long sigh and lifted his head up to the sky to admire the stars once again. he brought his head back down to look at the boy next to him. 

chenle looked back at him. the stars twinkled in his eyes. jisung felt his heart melt once again at the sight of the witch. 

“this is so cool,” he said. chenle smiled. breaking their eye contact, chenle opened his backpack and brought out the towel. he brought them closer to the sea and placed it on the sand. 

jisung sat down and watched chenle run across the sand, picking up all the spare twigs and planks of wood he could find. the witch finally returned with a pile of wood in his arms and dropped it next to them. with a flick of his wrist the wood erupted into flames. 

for awhile, the two sat in silence, listening to the fire cracking and the waves crash into each other. jisung glanced at chenle, but saw the boy was already looking back at him. his cheeks went hot when his eyes locked with the other’s. he felt as hot as the fire beside them when chenle brought a hand up to his face, his thumb near his lips. jisung, panicked, stared back at him with wide eyes. 

“i need to tell you something, ji,” chenle said, “something important.” 

his voice was so low that some of his words were almost inaudible. jisung nodded for him to continue, barely able to move his head with his paralyzing anxiety. there was so much chenle could be hinting at, one thing being what jisung craved- a confession, a confirmation that chenle reciprocated his feelings. he pushed it to the back of his mind, not wanting to get his hopes up. 

“the times i teleported to your room by accident… most of them were actually on purpose. the first two times- yes, but after that i had this  _ urge  _ to see you. because… i really, really like you jisung. it sounds stupid but when i first apparated into your room, after knocking all your books down and waking you up, it was like love at first sight for me,” chenle said. he took a deep breath and continued, “if you don’t feel that way- if you don’t want to be friends anymore, that’s okay. i just didn’t know how much longer i could handle hiding my crush from you.”

his voice cracked as he said “friends”, as if it hurt him at the thought of their friendship being no more. it hurt jisung too, to think he was just as scared as him of this ever ending. at the same time his heart surged: chenle liked him back! 

he realized he hadn’t said anything when chenle croaked out his name again nervously. chenle’s hand dropped from his neck and started to drift away, until jisung caught it and brought it back up. the witch’s dark eyes widened.

“i like you too chenle… i’ve liked you pretty much since that night too,” he said. the worry on chenle’s face disappeared, replaced with a grin. 

“really?” he asked. jisung nodded, smiling back at him. he lifted his hand up to chenle’s one that rested on his neck and detached it. he interlocked their fingers once more. he tugged chenle forward, bringing the boy closer to him on the towel. their breaths hitched at the new proximity, now that they knew they both liked each other. jisung glanced at his lips, inches away from his. he leaned in slowly, just in case chenle wasn’t ready for this and could move away. but chenle remained still, allowing jisung’s lips to collide with his.

he leaned further into the kiss, pushing chenle back. chenle wrapped his arms around jisung’s neck, elbows on his shoulders, to hold himself up. his fingers ran through his hair and tickled the back of his neck, sending more chills down jisung’s back. they continued the kiss, jisung’s heart exploded over and over again as soft lips grazed across his own. he finally pulled back, gasping for air. 

chenle stared back at him, cheeks pink and lips a dark tint of red. he shifted his body, so he no longer rested on his legs. instead, he wrapped them around jisung’s hips. 

“again?” he asked, tilting his head. jisung couldn’t resist his pleads, wanting the same, and leaned back in. this kiss was slower, less rushed than the first. the first was frantic, both had been scared for the end. fearful it would be the only one. now that both had leaned in a second time, wanting more, they were more relaxed, more confident. 

at last, as the fire beside them dimmed, they stopped. lips swollen and hearts exhausted from beating so fast, they sat and recollected themselves. chenle rested his head on jisung’s shoulder, his chest rising and falling intermittently. jisung stared at the sea in front of him. the sea was calmer now, quieter so their breaths were louder than the waves washing up onto the sand. chenle finally looked up, smiling dopily. 

“we should probably go back soon,” he said, “it’s almost four.”

“really? shit,” jisung replied, “time flies when you’re having fun.”

chenle huffed out a laugh, “oh my god. you sound like sicheng. old ass.”

they both stood up from the towel so chenle could pick it up and fold it. he brushed the sand off and placed it in his bag. he gasped and took out the snacks he had prepared.

“we forgot to eat!” chenle said.

“we were… preoccupied,” jisung said. chenle giggled and put the snacks back in the bag. 

once they cleaned up, jisung extended his arms so chenle could hold them. before chenle started muttering his spell, an idea struck jisung.

“could we do this… another way?” he asked, glancing at chenle’s lips. the witch’s eyebrows rose, contemplating his suggestion. he shrugged, “probably. i’ll just say it in my head then.”

jisung smiled and they kissed once again. he didn’t notice his surroundings melt into darkness, as his eyes were closed, but he heard the sounds of the waves disappear, instead replaced by the noise of his ceiling fan. he waited for chenle to pull back, though, to open his eyes. 

they were back in his dark room, standing in front of the main window that overlooked the dim street. it was cracked open, allowing the crisp air to cool his bedroom and the loud noise of crickets to infiltrate the silence of the room. jisung removed his hand from chenle to close it. 

chenle yawned, covering his mouth with his hand, “i’m exhausted.”

“me too,” jisung agreed, “why don’t you stay tonight?”

he climbed on top of his bed, yanking the covers down. he patted the spot next to him and smiled at chenle. chenle looked back at him, “i don’t know… sicheng might-“

“pleaseeee,” he pleaded. he reached out to the boy and tugged his sleeve. 

“you can come to the skatepark with me tomorrow too,” jisung continued. he pouted until chenle finally gave in, groaning and joining him on the bed. they laid down, resting their heads on the pillows. chenle suddenly sat up, supported by his elbow. he stared at jisung like he was expecting something.

“what?” jisung asked. 

chenle motioned towards his lips, “goodnight kiss. i would like one.” 

jisung laughed. he picked his head up. he pulled chenle closer with a hand on his nape and closed the distance between their lips. he felt chenle’s mouth quirk up in a smile against his. before they could progress any further and wake themselves up again, jisung dropped his head down to the pillow. chenle remained above him. jisung lifted his hand to the side of his head to play with his hair. he relaxed at the touch, smiling as his fingers ran through his curls. 

“i’m really happy this happened,” jisung whispered. 

“me too,” chenle replied, eyes drooping closed. he lowered himself back on to the pillow and rested one arm on jisung’s chest. eventually, the two drifted off into sleep.

 

jisung woke up the next morning to his phone alarm blaring in his ear. recently, due to some late nights, he had to set one in order to wake up before noon. he flung his arm on his end table and grabbed the phone, quickly shutting the alarm off to avoid waking up chenle. it was too late, as the boy tucked into his side stirred as jisung looked through his unread messages. there was one from jeno, sent about an hour ago.

 

**jeno:** YO apparently ur already w chenle so tell him he’s invited to hang w us at the park!!!!! renjun jaemin and hyuck r already coming so. gang gang. 

 

he snorted lightly. curse jeno for dating renjun. he and chenle could never do anything without them all knowing. 

“whatcha looking at?” chenle asked below him. his voice was hoarse after just waking up. he detached himself from jisung’s chest and sat up. jisung’s phone dropped on to his chest as he watched chenle yawn and stretch his arms out wide. his hair was messed up, sticking up in random places and curlier than usual. he rubbed his eyes and then looked back down at jisung for an answer to his question.

“jeno invited us to the park this morning. renjun and everyone else is going,” jisung said, “do you wanna go? they’re gonna be there soon, it’s almost 10:30.” 

chenle grinned, nodding excitedly. jisung sent jeno a message confirming they would be there and got up. after twenty minutes, the two were exiting jisung’s bedroom, tiptoeing past his mother’s office in order to not get caught, and walking out the front door. as jisung removed his key from the lock, chenle said, “hm. that’s the first time i’ve seen the parts of your house that are  _ not _ your room.”

jisung laughed. he grabbed his skateboard and backpack he always left leaning against the garage door and started down the sidewalk. the skatepark was only a ten minute walk, and a walk on a day as nice as this was worth it. he grabbed chenle’s hand with his spare one. 

chenle wore one of his basketball sweaters with his last name on the back. he had changed out of his old outfit from last night and rummaged through jisung’s closet before they left. it was too big on him, his hands disappeared under the long sleeves. jisung liked it, chenle wearing his clothes. 

so much had changed in less than a day- from friends to… something more. 

as if chenle could read his mind (and maybe he could, jisung wondered), he suddenly asked, “hey, are we like… dating now? it’s okay if you don’t want to yet but…”

jisung stopped in his steps. “do you want to?” he asked.

the witch nodded shyly. jisung grinned and kissed him quickly, “so do i.”

“okay… boyfriend,” chenle said quietly. jisung cringed and laughed in response. 

they returned to walking down the street, hands connected between them. they finally reached the iron fence that surrounded the park. they entered, walking past children coloring the ground with chalk and chasing after pigeons as they progressed farther into the park. they reached the skatepark and spotted their friends sitting in their usual spot by the halfpipe. jeno waved them over, glancing suspiciously at their intertwined hands. 

“good morning,” jisung said once they reached the group. chenle waved at everyone. renjun, who sat between jeno’s legs, wiggled his eyebrows at him, causing chenle’s cheeks to go pink.

the two sat down to the right of donghyuck, who was enraptured in a conversation with mark. mark looked over at chenle, eyebrows furrowing at the hoodie he wore. 

“hey, isn’t that jisung’s sweater?” he asked. 

jisung sighed, expecting them to make fun of them, “yes.”

“interesting,” was all jeno mumbled. renjun laughed quietly and shared a look with his boyfriend. 

“did you guys light up yet?” jisung asked. mark shook his head, taking out a joint out of the front pocket of his backpack. 

“i forgot my lighter though,” mark said, tossing it to the younger.. 

“shit, i did too,” jisung replied. he turned to chenle with pleading eyes. 

chenle rolled his eyes and held out his hand. a small flame appeared, which jisung used to light the joint. he brought it to his mouth, inhaling the smoke. he leant his head back to face the sky and blew out. the familiar calm feeling filled his body.

“do you guys want to go to the food truck now? i’m starving,” jeno said across from him. the group of boys- minus the two youngest- agreed and walked off, leaving chenle and jisung alone on the warm pavement. jisung took another hit and then held it out to the older boy. 

“you wanna?” jisung asked, “don’t feel pressured or anything.”

chenle remained still for a minute and then finally nodded, taking it from jisung’s fingers.

“you just gotta- oh there you go,” jisung was going to explain to him what to do, but chenle went right for it. he coughed his first time, which jisung assured him was completely normal. after a few more times, chenle handed it back to jisung. he was giddy, giggling quietly under his breath. he held his hands out to the sky, muttering, “this is… cool.” 

jisung laughed at his reaction, mumbling, “you’re so cute.”

the witch turned his head in his direction, “cute, you say?”

chenle stood up and placed himself on jisung’s lap. the sudden burst of confidence chenle had sent the younger’s heart into overdrive. he wrapped his arms around jisung’s neck, hands grazing his nape. he leaned his head forward so their foreheads touched. jisung looked up at the boy. now that he was so close, he noticed his bloodshot eyes. 

“oh. you’re definitely high,” jisung said, chenle laughing in response. he pulled him closed, allowing for his lips to graze against the younger’s. he kissed him once before pulling away again, erupting into another fit of giggles. he raised his hands to jisung’s jaw, cupping his face and leaning in. 

chenle’s lips were soft and tasted of sweet strawberries, jisung noted as their mouths dragged across each other’s. a wave of shivers rushed down his back after chenle bit his lip slightly. 

“ah! what the fuck!” a voice yelled, forcing them to rip apart. jisung glared over at the source of the noise- jeno, cheese fries in his hands. the black-haired boy jumped excitedly, pointing at the couple, “i knew it! i  _ knew _ it!”

“what?”

“we made a bet,” mark explained, “when you guys would finally get together. jeno said it would happen this week.”

“what the fuck?” chenle said, huffing out a laugh. 

“hey- language! but yeah, we did,” jaemin said, “after that party we all got kinda sus.”

“i’ll be expecting that $50 dollars by tomorrow,” jeno said, mouth full of fries. he pointed at the rest of the guys who all groaned in unison. 

the attention was off them again, so they returned to kissing. someone finally threw a fry at jisung’s head, forcing them to stop again.

“you’re making me lose my appetite,” donghyuck said.

“just because your single ass is lonely and bitter doesn’t mean i have to be,” chenle replied, eliciting a scowl from donghyuck. he turned back to jisung and brushed his thumb across his cheek. jisung looked up at him, admiring how the rays of sunlight accentuated the features of his face. he glowed golden like the flame of a candle, his cheekbones were sharp, the pupils of his eyes were surrounded by rings of fire. jisung was in awe of the boy he was in love with.  _ in love _ , he repeated in his head. he definitely was now, if he hadn’t been all along.

“why are you staring at me like that?” chenle asked. jisung broke out of the trance he was in. he blinked slowly, returning from his reverie. 

“you just look really beautiful right now. like even more than usual,” he whispered. chenle quickly brought his hand up to his face to cover his blush, but the younger still noticed his skin go red. 

“you d-do too,” he replied, voice cracking. jisung laughed at chenle’s sudden embarrassment. it was funny how they could reverse roles- from being the confident one to the flustered one- so quickly. 

chenle removed himself from jisung’s lap. instead, he turned around and tucked himself between jisung’s legs, resting his head on the younger’s chest. jisung wrapped his arms around his hips. they remained in this position for the rest of the day. as their friends shouted next to them, threw fries at each other, and occasionally got up to skate, the couple basked in the sun. they shared few words, but they were just as happy as they held each other. jaemin cooed at them, calling them his “babies” and complaining that he was the only single one there (mark and donghyuck panicked at this comment, but didn’t deny it). 

to their disappointment, clouds replaced the previously sunny sky by 2pm. rain poured down and thunder boomed, sending everyone scattering for shelter. chenle and jisung ran the opposite way of the rest of the group, into the cover of the trees rather than the awning of the food truck. hand-in-hand, they raced across the pavement and into the grass. they were completely soaked from the downpour by the time they reached the trees. jisung leaned against the truck of a pine tree and panted, exhausted from the sprint there. jisung’s hair was so wet it was flat and covered his eyes. he probably looked like a wet dog, he thought. chenle giggled at the sight of him. he brought his hand up and brushed the hair from his eyes. he leaned forward and kissed him against the tree. rain drops ran down from the leaves above, large drops occasionally dripping onto their heads and clothes. once jisung wrapped his arms around chenle’s neck, he felt the rain drops soak his skin. they pulled away and looked at each other for a minute. in front of him, chenle flushed face stared back. his eyes were calmer now, the rings of flames gone from his pupils. 

“i like you. a lot,” jisung suddenly said. 

chenle giggled, blushing even more, “i do too,  _ babe _ .”

he thought he was going to have a heart attack from the pet name. he held his chest and said, “oh my god. you’re going to kill me one day.”

his response elicited more giggles from chenle. the elder repeated the name to tease him, making jisung’s heart explode over and over again. he hoped his heart would get used to it soon, as from chenle’s grin he could tell he wasn’t going to stop saying it for a long time. he playfully shoved chenle back and removed himself from the tree. the thunderstorm ended and the sun shone again. jisung grabbed ahold of chenle’s hand and they began to make their way back to the skatepark. they splashed in the puddles that littered the forest ground, dampening their shoes even more. jisung didn’t notice the uncomfortable feeling he usually felt when he was soaked with rainwater. his ecstasy overwhelmed every other feeling.

he hoped he could have this forever- to be able to hold chenle’s hand and kiss him and be this happy everyday. he glanced over at his boyfriend, who was looking back at him with an expression full of love. this look ensured jisung’s hopes. they would be happy forever with each other at their side. 

he knew it. 

**Author's Note:**

> i hope u all liked this and thank u for reading! :-)) i apologize for any inaccuracies w witchcraft and stuff... i am dumb  
> also i was thinking abt writing a pt 2 w ~~~~vampire~~~ jisung SPOOKY! if u would like that plz comment lol thank u again <<<3333


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